#declared vs proclaimed

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

16th July 1990: The Declaration of the State Sovereignty of Ukraine was approved by the recently elected parliament of the Ukrainian SSR by a vote of 355 ayes and 4 nays. This was the first step towards the independence of Ukraine, officially proclaimed on 24 August 1991.

The banner read “Kyiv vs Moscow!”

[syndrossi]

I was just now thinking what an interesting dynamic there will be in the Restoration AU between Daemon and W!Jon. I mean, if Daemon sees Jon as family, he'll just treat him well. But if he decides that Jon is the future incarnation of his child? Jon will be overwhelmed by the flood of love and adoration this stranger will pour out on him. He somehow became the favorite child after the twins without doing anything for it, must be his confusion (and everyone around him) will be unbelievable because - why Jon? If it is found out that Jon is Rhaegar's legitimate son, he's theoretically the main threat to Daemon and his sons, but Daemon just...adores him. Once again, I inexplicably like this AU because almost none of the characters understand what's going on and are in constant WTF mode.

How exactly Daemon ends up viewing W!Jon is an interesting thought exercise. Because I think you're right that "random descendant of mine" he wouldn't feel as strongly about as "one of my precious children reborn." (And the added hilarity if he decides that Griff!Aegon is Rhaegar, aka refusing to believe that his other son's "reincarnation" could be dead, smoking Trident gun aside. Though Aegon's very notably different personality vs Rhaegar's in contrast to how similar the Jons are might cause him to reconsider eventually and then go burn Storm's End again.)

Politically, it certain will raise eyebrows, especially if he proclaims that Jon and Aegon are Restoration!Rhaegar's legitimate sons. OTOH, Daemon + the twins have the largest dragon in the realm in Caraxes and two very rapidly growing drakes. I would guess that everyone expects Daemon to betroth Dany to Resonant!Jon to cement his claim, but also...he doesn't really need to, given dragons.

But it is something that he might have to pay a little attention to, given the lessons of the Dance. If W!Jon or Griff!Aegon did decide they wanted to press their own claims, there would be another civil war. Best way to solve that is through eventually marrying R!Jon's heirs to theirs so that it becomes fairly moot who has the "better" claim.

(Honestly, Griff is the biggest wildcard/threat. He has the least attachment to this new family and the "best" claim if he's declared legitimate. The smart thing for Daemon would be to declare him a Blackfyre, especially if there is no clear evidence that Rhaegar's son was smuggled out.)

[ride-thedragon]

Dragonseed Analysis.

Dragonstone vs. Driftmark

I do think that there is a difference cultivated in the nature of where the dragonseeds grow up and how they show emotions and so on. In the show, there seems to be a much larger age difference between the Dragonstone seeds and Driftmark seeds, but within the fire and blood, it isn't made that clear, and I think many envision the eldest of them being in their twenties.

Dragonstone.

So, the foundation of Dragonstone in this narrative is one of Targaryen power. Hugh Hammer and Ulf the White They claim the largest dragons descended from the rulers of the most prosperous time in Westeros. They are clear Valyrians who would've descended from the right of the first night that occurs on Dragonstone. They are a soldier and blacksmith (son), respectively, and the eldest of the dragonseeds. If there were a set standard for Dragonseeds, it would be them.

Driftmark.

From Driftmark, we have Addam and Nettles. (Alyn, too, but he's irrelevant to this). They claim Seasmoke and Sheepstealer, respectively. The dragons they claim play into their stories, Addam claims the dragon of his alleged father Laenor and Nettles is the only person to claim a wild dragon. Both their parentage are contested in the narrative, Addam might be Corlys' son, while Nettles might not be Valyrian at all. Addam is the son of a Captain on Driftmark, and Nettles is an alleged orphan. From their introductions, they set themselves apart in the story, but this distinction plays out with:

Loss

The biggest catalyst for this distinction is loss in the narrative. The seeds from Driftmark lose Driftmark during the Battle of the Gullet. They lost their homes and where they grew up, people they knew and saw. The people from Dragonstone don't have that connection. Jace is also a loss to the two Driftmarkseeds that he isn't shown to be to the Dragonstone ones. Both Addam and Nettles are given clear reactions to his death. Jace would've been a brother to Addam as he'd be seen as his half-brother and would've given him his title. While we don't know why Nettles and Jace would've been close, certain things like shared features and her being the only female dragonseed while he grew up in the company of Rhanea and Baela might answer for it.

Emotion.

So the loss plays into this, Addam and Nettles are said to be upset, Nettles even crying after the Battle and Addam, taking comfort with Coys allegedly.

Ulf and Hugh are celebrating, however, drinking and partying on Dragonstone while the others are having such a clear reaction.

Betrayal.

This is the big one. The Draginstone seeds betray Rhaenyra quite clearly. The Driftmark kids are only accused of their treason, with Addam going out of his way to disprove it.

Ulf and Hugh turn cloaks and fight on the side of the greens, Hugh even goes as far as to proclaim himself King in his own right.

Nettles is accused and sentenced for treason she did not commit no matter the narrative. She did not use spells to bind her dragon and Daemon to her.

Addam is not a traitor, so when he is to be sharply questioned, it's wrongful.

They both escape the narrative by the intervention of Rhaenyra loyalist in some way declaring them loyal.

Close to Loyalty

Thematically, who they run away with the help of and to respectively also plays into this. Daemon ensures Nettles isn't punished for the treason accusations. Corlys ensures Addam escapes before he's captured. Rhaenyra loyalist protect them.

On the other hand, Hugh and Ulf go to Daeron and declare their loyalty to Aegon.

Targaryen and Velayron

The Targaryen narrative through the Dragonstone seeds is that of power and hubris. They gain to the point of forsaking oaths they made and doing whatever benefited them because they are Targaryens.

The Velaryon narrative of the draognseeds is that of defying expectations and the cost of loyalty. One of them dies defending their honour while the other one leaves the narrative entirely unbounded to the loyalty she was held to because either was so heinously questioned.

Conclusion.

This was fun.

[waitingforsecretsouls]

Much as I theoretically understand why fandom glomped onto the possibility of the tragic Daeron and Addam romance, it genuinely doesn't seem like the closest explanation the text itself offers. One of the biggest implications people see for this is the paragraph wondering about Tessarion's motivations for intervening in the Vermithor vs Seasmoke fight:

Vermithor’s size and weight were too much for Seasmoke to contend with, Lord Blackwood told Grand Maester Munkun many years later, and he would surely have torn the silver-grey dragon to pieces…if Tessarion had not fallen from the sky at that very moment to join the fight. Who can know the heart of a dragon? Was it simple bloodlust that drove the Blue Queen to attack? Did the she-dragon come to help one of the combatants? If so, which? Some will claim that the bond between a dragon and dragonrider runs so deep that the beast shares his master’s loves and hates. But who was the ally here, and who the enemy? Fire & Blood Chapter 17: The Dying of the Dragons — Rhaenyra Overthrown

People tend to focus a lot on the love aspect and basically ignore the alternate possibility offered up, which is hate as a motivating force.

As happy as I am for people enjoying the concept of Daeron/Addam, let's acknowledge that they have neither actual on page interactions nor as much as implied aquaintanceship, and GRRM is the opposite of subtle when it comes to "hinting" at these things for implied same sex entanglements. One line about Addam, who canonically served on his mothers trading cogs, having previously traveled as far as Oldtown, or Daeron enjoying spending his off - time at Oldtown's or prior to his fostering King's Landings harbour or shipyards would have been sufficient, but instead there's absolutely nothing.

Whereas Daeron and Hugh Hammer, dragonseed and rider of Vermithor, do have canonical interactions, both on page involving dialogue and implied by their close proximity, that develops into a plot relevant enmity, culminating in Hugh stating he'll claim Daeron's birthright for himself, as rider of the largest surviving dragon, and Daeron approving the Caltrops assassination of Hugh in turn.

With his brother Aemond slain as well, the greens found themselves kingless and leaderless. Prince Daeron stood next in the line of succession. Lord Peake declared that the boy should be proclaimed as Prince of Dragonstone at once; others, believing Aegon II dead, wished to crown him king. The Two Betrayers felt the need of a king as well…but Daeron Targaryen was not the king they wanted. “We need a strong man to lead us, not a boy,” declared Hard Hugh Hammer. “The throne should be mine.” When Bold Jon Roxton demanded to know by what right he presumed to name himself a king, Lord Hammer answered, “The same right as the Conqueror. A dragon.” And truly, with Vhagar dead at last, the oldest and largest living dragon in all Westeros was Vermithor, once the mount of the Old King, now that of Hard Hugh the bastard. Vermithor was thrice the size of Prince Daeron’s she-dragon Tessarion. No man who glimpsed them together could fail to see that Vermithor was a far more fearsome beast. [...] The lords and knights of Oldtown and the Reach were offended by the arrogance of the Betrayer’s claim, however, and none more so than Prince Daeron Targaryen himself, who grew so wroth that he threw a cup of wine into Hard Hugh’s face. (...) Lord Hammer said, “Little boys should be more mannerly when men are speaking. I think your father did not beat you often enough. Take care I do not make up for his lack.” The Two Betrayers took their leave together, and began to make plans for Hammer’s coronation. When seen the next day, Hard Hugh was wearing a crown of black iron, to the fury of Prince Daeron and his trueborn lords and knights.

[...] Though Prince Daeron was not present at the council, the Caltrops (as the conspirators became known) were loath to proceed without his consent and blessing. Owen Fossoway, Lord of Cider Hall, was dispatched under cover of darkness to wake the prince and bring him to the cellar, that the plotters might inform him of their plans. Nor did the once-gentle prince hesitate when Lord Unwin Peake presented him with warrants for the execution of Hard Hugh Hammer and Ulf White, but eagerly affixed his seal. Fire & Blood Chapter 17: The Dying of the Dragons — Rhaenyra Overthrown

Which seams like a far more (meaning: at all) established backdrop for that musing about sharing loves and hates to me.

Tldr; Less "love wins" and more "haterism transcending death" for Daeron the Daring.

[myfairkatiecat]

i hear the katria bug is catching? well i'm going. to make it worse.

presenting to your askboxes (this is a dual pov fic and a version of this has gone out to stria too), with worldbuilding inspired by "the other woman" (other woman anon if you're out there know that i'm thinking about your fic.....) this fic! (wording is a bit clunkier in stria's version sorry)

note that this is au to real life keepblr events and their chronology. for the most part. (matters for this version more because katie's response to the rant precedes most of the posts cited here in real life. whatever. for the sake of katria deal with it.)

~~~

Agree to Disagree (Katie's Version) [Part One]

Tumblr user the-way-astray, otherwise known as Stria Sixteen: Katie's new acquaintance from the Keeper Forum. It was funny how you met the most interesting sorts of people when you walked around alone. Katie remembered her vaguely from her lurking days too. It had been good to see her talking to people and proclaiming her opinions, and she'd been a good conversationalist—analysis-minded, passionate, and willing, evidently, to swap Tumblrs.

Katie, of course, being charmed and fascinated by such an individual, decided to check out her blog. Which, she realised when she clicked open the read-more to her pinned post, had been somewhat of a mistake.

For right there, in front of her, readily available to read through, was a veritable wall of Stria's anti-Keefe posts.

Now, Katie was by and large a quite tolerant person. That she hadn't met as many passionate Keefe haters as she'd (regrettably) met passionate Fitz haters, was more to do with the composition of the fandom itself rather than with her trying to avoid haters. But here was one: a Keefe hater with posts labelled things like "keefe rant" and "thoughts on the relationship between keefe's trauma and actions" and "sokeefe, from a writing standpoint, reeks of insecurity". Many things, even from the title itself, Katie agreed with! Keefe was insecure, definitely! Thinking about the relationship between Keefe's trauma and actions was one of her favorite things! In fact, she was the one who always found herself reminding people that Keefe was her flawed pookie, not her perfect pookie who had done nothing wrong, ever. But she could hardly imagine someone using the same things which endeared Keefe to her so as a reason for hating him.

She opened the rant in a new tab—now, she had to know.

She was hit with a great wall of disclaimers.

The first thing Katie noticed was the emphasis on it being subjective. Stria—Stria who had seemed firmly opinionated to Katie even just meeting her for the first time—naturally had subjective opinions on Keefe. She hated his humor subjectively, and emphasized over and over that the rant was a rant. Katie found it—along with the rant's frankly terrifying length—intriguing.

She'd never felt like she'd met her match before. Her love of Keefe vs. Stria's hatred. Both, no doubt, interesting.

And her bold declaration, "Feel free to pick fights with me or tell me that I'm not being fair. Feel free to counter every single one of my arguments," was practically a dare to Katie's inner debater.

She typed out a response in the replies, and waited.

A minute later, Stria's response came:

"lmfao that's fine. debate away.

Katie grinned. Debate away she would.

And when she did, neither Stria, nor anyone else, would be ready.

~~~

and thus begins the tale of the duel spirit mutuals. i'll make a part two if you would like one :)

anything quoted from stria's rant/pinned post/blog can be found @the-way-astray at the time of sending this ask in every referenced post (so rant disclaimer and pinned post). credit for that is stria's.

the way my heart stopped when i realized this was about my response to her post cause the layers of "i know you said this isn't your argument but I'm both claiming that it secretly is and also refuting it" that my caffeine-fueled brain attempted to transmit to stria before i posted that are actively obscuring the point lmao

that being said this is very well written. It's almost reading like my cognate's work, tbh, though she isn't online. I'm... intruiged by the next part but also very, very, very scared. I want to see stria's version

@the-way-astray

[justajsworkshop]

i'm sitting here having this moment of awakening about the unreality of nonfulfillment.

i think about god. i think about ultimate reality. i think about total, absolute fulfillment. i think about the physical, linear self seeing the tiniest sliver of all that is and proclaiming it as, well, all that is.

i asked myself... what if it was never real? the struggle. the dissatisfaction. the waiting. the suffering. the nonfulfillment. what if i declared the unreality of nonfulfillment here and now? what if i accepted the unreality and impossibility of nonfulfillment for myself?

sure, a certain condition has the potential and "right" to exist as part of all that is, but it doesn't have to be real to me. that's the gift of awareness, the ability to focus in on a specific point of all that is. because alone, god is all things but not one specific thing. as I AM awareness, i am the sole creditor of the reality i choose to shape and perceive.

i suddenly feel so powerful over the undesirable. i don't have to come up with a bazillion different narratives to not experience a certain something in an attempt to bypass the inescapability of "notness” not existing. i always felt like i was kinda trying to fool myself: trying to mock god. instead, i just denounce something as real vs. unreal, and it's all, well, kinda surreal. but so is reality.

when i think of something undesirable now, i ask myself, "what if it was never real?" i accept that as truth, and then it's not. because i am reality.

[skaruresonic]

The idw discourse is so bad, I feel caught in the middle because each time I express how bad the storytelling is, in a new issue or how off model the characters are drawn, idw fans gang up on me. But on the other hand I don't want to be associated with the people who think think it's funny to tweet how Flynn should die or make weird assumptions about Stanley being a bad person ? Like that's weird and cruel. Hate their work not them as people.

I just decided to pretend the comic doesn't exist and it helps lol.

I'm sorry that happened to you. Idk if anyone else will tell you that, but I will, because I know how much it sucks.

One time, I saw a guy on Twitter blame us for his inability to criticize the book in what he believed was a much more "balanced" manner without getting harassed by people.

Digest that for a moment. It's our fault for other people's reaction to us. And instead of rubbing his brain cells together for a moment and questioning the reasons why this knee-jerk reaction occurs, or even reflecting on the fact that it occurs at all and perhaps realizing that the call is coming from inside the house, he fell back on old biases and decided it was the haters who were wrong.

The mental gymnastics on display here are unreal.

In this case, I think people are stumbling into the usual fallacious trap of assuming both sides carry equal weight, and thus believe that defaulting to a position of "neutrality" makes them morally superior somehow.

That's kind of what I hate about this fandom - the utter superciliousness. The rotten shit we as a fandom get up to (and no, being a little snarky in a reblog does not count as harassment) while proclaiming love and light uwu. Be nice to everyone, except those freaks over there.

"Neutrality" is in scare quotes here because it's not true neutrality, but a way of posturing to the in-group that you're not Like Us. As demonstrated by my Twitter-user anecdote, people around here don't want to say anything hater-flavored because it risks intense ostracization. That's why you have people jumping down your throat for presenting even mild criticisms. It'd be pathetic if it weren't so annoying.

I'm not talking about people who let well enough alone. I'm talking about centrists who sneer "both sides are bad," as if by distancing themselves from the situation in a smug manner, they're declaring themselves more enlightened than the rest of us.

Honestly, the other side should be just as insulted, but they're not, because this attitude only helps them in the long run.

In reality, this is more like the fishhook situation centrists have with antis vs. proshippers. Saying "this whole thing is stupid" really only benefits antis because they now have grounds to reply, "Yes, this IS stupid, don't you think proshippers are crazy for being upset at something so trivial?" while conveniently omitting the part where antis routinely send proshippers death threats and other heinous material.

Look at it from this angle: the most concrete harm I have seen their side say they've suffered is a deep discomfort and estrangement from the book. Which, yeah. That sucks. But it's also kinda on you to just click away if it makes you uncomfortable.

On the other hand, I have had legitimate crying fits because of horrible messages I received and have told people multiple times about the anon who mocked my recently-deceased mom. Which, unlike clicking away from a blog, I had no choice but to see sometimes because I was still naive enough to believe people would behave themselves in my inbox. In fact, a mutual were recently discussing our anxieties over retaliation should IDW be cancelled. There's stuff about this that you just don't want to think about because dwelling on it will freak you out.

"Both sides are bad" stings, especially in light of knowing the measures I have taken to walk on eggshells and draw proper boundaries. I literally cannot know if someone in this fandom will consider my explanations harassment and dogpiling, so I try not to reblog with commentary. On the reblogging site.

Reflect on how fucked-up that is, to feel uncomfortable adding a tag to someone's fanart because you're worried they might realize you're One of Them(tm) and shun you on that basis alone.

I won't sit here and say I've always been perfect in my conduct, but at the same time, it's just the infuriating experience of double standards all the way down. Somehow it never occurs to them that if I held them to the same standard they hold me, I could call them all out on intellectual dishonesty for refusing to engage with any of our points no matter how calmly or clearly stated because "lol ur just a hater," and tar them with the same brush as those who sent me death threats.

But ofc, things don't work out like that in the calculus of Le Sonic Discourse. It's just a rotten experience to the core.

[md-confessions]

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring on the whole "romantic Nuzi vs QPR Nuzi"

Just stop fighting over this crap.

I've seen it from both sides, saying one is better than the other.

write your AUs and fics for whatever interpretation you want of Nuzi, but accept that it will be a certain way in canon. It's very likely romantic, but even the nuances of how they are in that romantic relationship are bound to be different in canon compared to how people headcanon it.

And just because two characters are in a romantic relationship DOESN'T mean the platonic side of that relationship is lost. They don't have to be making out at all times and declaring their romantic love all the time, they can still be friends. They can still make jokes with each other and laugh or talk about their interests. Just because people focus on the romantic part, doesn't mean they've forgotten the platonic. People can focus on different things and at different times.

I know I've been harsh to the QPR side in this ask, but that's because I've seen a bunch of people in support of that side here that just seem to straight up hate the romantic side and call it bad. Dislike the romantic side all you want, that's fine, but just because you dislike something doesn't make it bad.

And if romantic Nuzi ends up becoming canon, you have to deal with that. That's the decision Liam Vickers made and just because you prefer something else doesn't give you permission to shit on it and call it bad despite it not being objectively bad, and it doesn't give you permission to insult people who support that interpretation.

This goes for every ship. Just because Nuviz is my favorite ship doesn't mean I go around saying my interpretation of the main trio's dynamic is better. I hope Nuviz becomes canon, but that doesn't mean I'll be put off by the show if it doesn't.

And if there are romantic Nuzi fans out there that are actually shitting on QPR Nuzi fans for no good reason (I haven't seen it much but I know it's out there), quit it you babies. It'd be the Nuzi vs Envy thing all over again and I don't think any reasonable person wants that. Accept that other people have other preferred interpretations and stop shoving it down their throat that "I was right, my version is canon." Good for you, now fuck off to the corner so everyone can have fun again. Just because your interpretation is canon does not give you permission to shit on other people's interpretation. I know I said earlier that if romantic Nuzi is canon then the QPR Nuzi fans have to deal with it, but it doesn't mean they have to abandon their interpretation and it doesn't mean you get to insult them and proclaim you are a god amongst men for "getting it right."

TL;DR learn to accept other's opinions rather than imposing yours on other fans and the creators. And do be kind to each other, we're real humans after all, not just profile pictures and walls of text.

And to those who do want their interpretation of Nuzi, romantic or QPR: Write a fic about it. Trust me, it will make your day to write the media you want to see. It's what I'm doing, and I've really enjoyed my interpretation of the main cast despite it being quite different in canon.

In the the end, I just want people to be happy. And if there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that if you stop hating so much, you'll be much happier. I used to hate a lot, and I was a miserable soul. I don't wish that fate on anyone.

Uh, apologizes for the long confession, and again, I apologize to the QPR Nuzi fans for targeting them mainly in this confession. You guys are completely valid and I encourage you to keep shipping them like this regardless of how they are in canon, as long as you don't impose that interpretation on their canon versions. Like I said, write a fic about it. You'll be happier.

(Also I put that TL;DR way too early but I'm too lazy to go back and reformat this. Also, I apologize to the moderator for this blog if I insulted or offended them in anyway, I just wanted to voice my thoughts on this situation so people could maybe chill a little.)

.

[karmicstar]

The Doorway to Enlightened Understanding

The phrase, "He who talks does not know; he who knows does not talk," is often associated with Lao Tzu and Taoist philosophy, particularly from the Tao Te Ching. This statement carries profound spiritual and philosophical meaning, emphasizing wisdom, humility, and the nature of true understanding. Here's a detailed breakdown:

1. Superficial Knowledge vs. Deep Understanding

"He who talks does not know": This suggests that those who talk excessively or assert their knowledge loudly often lack true understanding. Their words may stem from ego or superficial learning rather than deep insight.

"He who knows does not talk": True wisdom goes beyond words. Those who have profound understanding may recognize that words are inadequate to convey the full depth of what they know. They remain silent because they understand the limits of language.

2. Silence as a Sign of Mastery

Silence can indicate humility. A wise person knows there is always more to learn and refrains from presenting themselves as the ultimate authority.

Wisdom often manifests through actions, presence, and the way one lives their life rather than through spoken declarations.

3. The Ineffable Nature of Truth

Certain truths, especially spiritual or existential truths, are beyond articulation. They are experiences or realizations that words can not fully capture.

Those who truly "know" understand that speaking about these truths can dilute or misrepresent them.

4. The Ego and Speech

Those who seek recognition or validation may talk excessively, often showcasing what they know for approval.

A wise person, free from ego, has no need for external validation and thus feels no compulsion to speak.

5. Taoism and Non-Action (Wu Wei)

In Taoism, the concept of Wu Wei (effortless action) aligns with this idea. Wisdom and harmony come from aligning with the natural flow of life, not from forceful efforts to explain or control it.

6. Practical Applications in Daily Life

Listening over speaking: This phrase encourages listening more than talking. True learning often comes from observing and absorbing rather than proclaiming.

Action over words: It suggests that meaningful actions carry more weight than empty words.

Respect for the unknown: It teaches us to approach knowledge with humility, acknowledging that some things are unknowable.

7. A Balance

This phrase doesn’t mean that speaking is inherently bad or that all wise people are silent. Instead, it emphasizes the value of thoughtful communication. Words should come from a place of understanding and purpose, not arrogance or superficiality.

In essence, this aphorism encourages humility, mindfulness, and a deeper appreciation of wisdom that transcends words. It reminds us to value silence, listen deeply, and recognize the limits of verbal expression.

[christian-heresies-tournament]

battle 1! descriptions of each below the cut, plus wikipedia links if you would like to read more.

army of mary: guys, the virgin mary got reincarnated in canada in 1921 as a woman named marie-paule giguère. this reincarnated mother of god started a prayer group in the 70s, called the army of mary—as an alternative to the legion of mary, a catholic organization.

her group got recognized by the catholic church, but once she announced her true identity, she and her followers were declared heretical and became independent from the church. in 2007, six nuns in arkansas got excommunicated for their support of the army of mary. our blessed mother died in 2015, but her followers still practice.

antonianism: in the start of the 1700s, a young kongolese noblewoman named beatriz kimpa vita was resurrected as the reincarnation of st. anthony. she returned to the abandoned capital of são salvador (now mbanza-kongo) with her followers to repopulate it, and they successfully established a permanent population in the city. additionally, kimpa vita proclaimed that jesus, mary, and st. francis had all been born in the kongo, that non-kongolese catholic teachings were wrong, and that st. anthony was on the level of a “second God.” kimpa vita was burned as a heretic by the catholic church in 1706.

antonianism had tens of thousands of adherents, even after kimpa vita's death, and they were a significant political force of kongolese unity and power in the face of portuguese colonialism.

[tasmiq]

Jumu'ah Sohbet: 19 July 2024

It was a week of being gobsmacked with a flash of the obvious, retrospectively! I have been rather sheepish about being an unemployed accident survivor, and I was made to contend with the Truth of matters. I had all the answers to my future quandaries in the past 😅 I was even able to discern between my heart's message vs. my nafs on the same matter, Subhana'Allah! (Divine glory) This is where I humble myself out of sheer gratitude that I can shut my nafs up, when (gently) reprimanded by your Wakil Abbu, whom I have accepted as the other half of my deen: Shukran Ya Allah! (Divine gratitude)

Here I go, with a sheepish Bismillah 👀:

#1. The first flash of the obvious from my near past was when your Wakil Abbu was funnily reprimanding himself, as us, about our role as murids (Sufi students). This was beyond our bayat (oath of allegiance), respecting Allah's rights and wrongs, and our Silsila (spiritual chain), and fulfilling our daily assignment and tithes:

i. As Ansaris, we naturally incline towards being helpers in humanity. We must make ourselves available for service and be conscious and observant of the workload and level of need.

ii. Beyond serving our families and communities, we must do so within our Tariqa.

iii. We must serve with adhab (respect) in our assigned tasks with a smile, willingness, and gratitude!

iv. Our service must be implemented with dignity and beauty as a place of learning and not as grind work.

v. We can never compare our service, as all the parts represent different aspects of spiritual development.

This is where your Abbu spelled out our collective haq (truth), albeit sheepishly. What being in our Sufi Tariqa has done for us has been manifold because we are where we are because of it; with love, light, and beauty. Shaykh Taner rightly proclaimed that this place is one of solace as an oasis with all the turbulence in the world in the background. Your Wakil Abbu ended with immense wisdom when he pointed out that we must not unconsciously attend Zikrs and socials and lead our lives without being integrated into who we are!

#2. Next, I was blown away by the enormous level of EQ (emotional quotient or intelligence) within Sufism, where it can accurately account our Sufi journey through the various levels of nafs (lower-self / ego) and Anne painted even more possibilities. She explained that as we are going through the nafs journey, we will have certain experiences, often related to these levels. This is what Allah is showing us, and there is more as we go up and down these nafs levels. Allah wouldn't show us something that is not possible spiritually.

It is useful to know the levels of the nafs and what attributes we should be striving for. The eyes of the heart have a big and small eye, which is the place where we perceive from. One for this worldly realm and one for the spiritual realm. So, how can we reach contentment in our lives, she enquired? There are different levels of the nafs where we will have different experiences. To my relief, she added that we can have a contentment stage at every nafs level, but how do we get there? The scientific merits of gratefulness have actually been proven, she declared as a spiritual boffin! When we give thanks to someone, our chemical makeup helps both ourselves and the recipient of the gratitude. However, we easily forget to be in a state of gratefulness! When we do anything, with connection and gratefulness, they are truly the easiest things to bring to our lives.

Timeously, as we approached Ashura (the 10th day) in Muharram (Islamic New Year), she intriguingly added that the Islamic concept of a new year is where in the first 10 days, we are immediately inclined to do a lot of prayers and turn to Allah. Not with half-hearted new year resolutions! We ask Allah to renew us and for the new year to be good for us. Our deen (religion) is live where we are connected to the sun, moon, nature, and everything around us! We have the moon and sun calendar, which direct our annual timescales and daily prayer times. Now that I think of it, your Mimi (maternal Aunt) has always lovingly prescribed to the Islamic calendar over the Gregorian one, which we should too 😉

#3. Your Aunty and our Rosieçim (Sister Rosie) graciously answered Anne's inquiry into identifying our sources of contentment, confirming why we're spiritual family because she articulated what we were baffling to express. She said that it has been easy to find contentment after changing her perception from the small eye to the big Eye and to see that side of things, here and now. So, she was able to declare that she could find contentment in every moment, as long as she was paying attention! 😅 I would add that we find contentment in our never-ending spiritual learning that consolidate those moments with deeper understanding.

However, when you are in despair, doom, and gloom because of terrible circumstances that are facing your world, sure, it helps to pray, but seeing everything so sad is not helpful! Just as your Ammu realised regarding the genocide unfolding in Gaza. We actually have to stop ourselves and notice positive things, too. Anne affirmed that while we acknowledge the challenges; we must remember that it is Allah's world, and He will provide help for its beings, and we have to but surrender to that. True sympathy, true empathy, and true help all come from our perceptions of how Allah wants us to look at challenges. As Rosieçim was pointing out, we have to bring the little eye and big Eye into the pesent moment!

In conclusion, when we meet trouble; we must always remember that there are two ways to look at it, with negativity and positivity. Just as you get scratched by our kitties, yes, it is painful in the moment, but despite the occasional upset, we are so grateful for them! And newsflash family, your Ammu serves the greatest Employer of all and able to dedicate herself to endless spiritual learning of His reality because of her circumstance:

Ya 'Alim Ya Hakim Ya Haq Ya Rashid (The All-knowing One full of wisdom and truth who calculatingly guides)

Shukran Ya Allah!

[best-habsburg-monarch]

Greetings descendants!

It is with great sorrow (I say, cackling) that I must inform you that you have been dethroned by the Hungarian Diet. Your replacement hasn't been voted into office yet; in fact, it's a subject of an ongoing election (https://www.tumblr.com/rulers-of-hungary-tournament/737340971165106176/bonus-poll-they-were-kings-in-our-hearts-if-your) held by the Diet. Afterwards, all of your monarchs claiming the Hungarian throne concurrent with and after the chosen successor will be declared foreign usurpers, and country after either 1526 or 1711 (again, depending who is voted into office) proclaimed to have been In Shackles and Not Actually Hungary untill the partial restoration of our independence in 1867.

We have deemed it necessary after the snubbing of the man responsible for the partial restoration of said independence (however self-serving motives might've been) have definitely convinced us this dynasty never cared for us, has never respected us as equals and has never done anything for us, ever, that a chosen successor wouldn't have done better. It is also abundantly clear that this bracket is being held hostage by the Czechs, which we perceive as a betrayal from our dear friends with whom we shared several monarchs.

We shall rescend this declaration if, and only if, this dynasty is willing to offer us an olive branch by voting Erzsébet (known to friends, among which we count ourselves, as Sisi) the Best Glamorous Consort or whatever. Though German by birth, her heart was more Hungarian than any of the alleged "kings of Hungary" your dynasty has spawned.

(Why yes this IS basically just a very long-winded Sisi propaganda. And the János Zápolya vs Ferenc Rákoczi poll endorsement. Because we'd be remiss to pass the opportunity to advertise Best Anti-Habsburg minigame on the Best Habsburg page.)

-regards, Duchess Of Nyitra

Vote Erzsebet (Sisi) to appease the Hungarian diet.

Our tempestuous friends - brave men of Hungary - you may be called upon again in the next round to defend Maria Theresa as you so valiantly did against Friedrich II.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Jonestown Massacre

The Jonestown massacre was, before 9/11, the largest single incident of intentional civilian death in American history. More than 900 people died, many children. It was also a devastating cultural trauma: the end of the last strains of a certain kind of 1960s idealism and 1970s radicalism. Jonestown’s legacy lives on in the ironic phrase “drink the Kool-Aid”. (In actuality it was Fla-Vor-Aid.)

Although he would later become a symbol of the darker side of the west coast counterculture, Jim Jones was born to a poor family in Indiana. Described as an intelligent and strange child, Jones was instinctively attracted to religion, especially charismatic Christian traditions like Pentecostalism. He cut his teeth as a street preacher, and was, unusually for the time and place, a passionate advocate for racial equality. Jones’s idiosyncratic blend of evangelical Christianity, New Age spirituality and radical social justice attracted an enthusiastic following. He called his burgeoning church the Peoples Temple.

Although Jones’s followers would later be stereotyped as sinister, brainwashed idiots, the journalist Tim Reiterman argues in his seminal book on the subject that many were “decent, hardworking, socially conscious people, some highly educated”, who “wanted to help their fellow man and serve God, not embrace a self-proclaimed deity on earth”. The Peoples Temple advocated socialism and communitarian living and was racially integrated to an exceptional standard rarely matched since.

In 1965, when Jones was in his mid-30s, he ordered the Peoples Temple moved to California. He drifted away from traditional Christian teachings, describing himself in messianic terms and claiming he was the reincarnation of figures like Christ and Buddha. He also claimed that his goal all along was communism, and, in a twist on the famous dictum that religion is the “opiate of the masses”, that religion was merely his way of making Marxism more palatable.

By the 1970s, the Peoples Temple, now based in San Francisco, had gained significant political influence. Jones’s fierce advocacy for the downtrodden earned him the admiration of left-wing icons like Angela Davis and Harvey Milk and the support of groups like the Black Panthers – a tragically misguided political affinity, given that more than two-thirds of Jonestown’s eventual victims were African American.

There were signs, however, of a sinister undercurrent to the Peoples Temple. Followers were expected to devote themselves completely to the church’s utopian project: they turned over their personal wealth, worked long hours of unpaid labor for the church and often broke contact with their families. They were expected to raise their children within the commune. As a show of commitment, Peoples Temple members were asked to sign false testimonials that they had molested their children, which the church kept for potential blackmail.

In his 1980 study of Jonestown, the writer Shiva Naipaul, younger brother of VS Naipaul, argued that the Peoples Temple was at heart a fundamentalist religious project – “obsessed with sin and images of apocalyptic destruction, authoritarian in its innermost impulses, instinctively thinking in terms of the saved and the damned”.

The result, Naipaul wrote, “was neither racial justice nor socialism but a messianic parody of both”.

Jones, who had long believed the US was in danger of imminent nuclear holocaust, had been searching for a place where his church would be “safe” during an apocalyptic event. A magazine article alleging abuse in the Peoples Temple spurred Jones’s desire to relocate. He chose Guyana, a former British colony in South America whose socialist regime was politically sympathetic.

In 1977 the Peoples Temple moved its headquarters to a remote area of Guyanese wilderness. Here, Jones declared, they could build a utopian society without government or media meddling. Battling an oppressive tropical climate and limited resources, they began to convert the dense jungle into a working agricultural commune, soon known as “Jonestown”.

The church delivered Jones’s rambling monologues to Jonestown’s inhabitants by megaphone as they worked. In the evenings they attended mandatory propaganda classes. Jones’s writ was enforced by armed guards called the “Red Brigade”.

Jonestown had little reason to expect interference from Guyana – a “cooperative republic” whose government happily ignored signs of the cult’s authoritarian and paranoid bent. Back in the US, however, parents of Jonestown inhabitants – concerned by the strange letters, or lack of letters, they received from their children – had been lobbying the government to investigate. After a family in the US won a custody order for a child in Jonestown, paranoia escalated. The commune became an armed camp, ringed by volunteers with guns and machetes, threatening to fight outsiders to the death.

During the siege, Black Panthers Huey Newton and Angela Davis spoke to Jonestown inhabitants by radio patch to voice solidarity. Davis told Jonestown inhabitants that they were at the vanguard of revolution, and right to resist what she called “a profound conspiracy” against them.

Sometime during this period Jonestown began drills called “white nights”, in which inhabitants would practice committing mass suicide.

At the behest of concerned family members in the US, the California congressman Leo Ryan organized a delegation of journalists and others to make a fact-finding mission to Jonestown.

The delegation arrived at Jonestown on 17 November 1978 and received a civil audience from Jones, but the visit was hastily called short on 18 November after a member of the commune tried to stab Ryan. The delegation headed back to the airstrip, accompanied by a dozen Jonestown inhabitants who had asked to leave the commune, and escorted by Jones’s watchful deputies.

The delegates never made it off the ground. As they boarded the planes, their escorts drew guns and opened fire. They shot Ryan dead, combing his body with bullets to make certain, and killed four others – including two photographers who captured footage of the attack before dying. Wounded survivors ran or dragged themselves, bleeding, into the forest. (One of Ryan’s aides, Jackie Speier, survived five gunshots and is now a congresswoman representing California’s 14th district.)

Back at Jonestown, Jones announced that it was time to undertake the final “white night”. To quell disagreement, he told inhabitants that Congressman Ryan had already been murdered, sealing the commune’s fate and making “revolutionary suicide” the only possible outcome.

The people of Jonestown, some acceptant and serene, others probably coerced, queued to receive cups of cyanide punch and syringes. The children – more than 300 – were poisoned first, and can be heard crying and wailing on the commune’s own audio tapes, later recovered by the FBI.

When Guyanese troops reached Jonestown the next morning, they discovered an eerie, silent vista, frozen in time and littered with bodies. A tiny number of survivors, mainly people who had hidden during the poisoning, emerged. One elderly woman, who slept through the entire ordeal, awoke to discover everyone dead. Jones was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot.

[pulaasul]

Delusions VS. Ideals.

@66thpitstop​ Your responses to my post deserve to be a post on its own because damn you seem to be confusing delusions with ideals.

First let us define both words. 

Delusion -  a false belief or judgment about external reality, held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, occurring especially in mental conditions. (source: Oxford Dictionary)

Ideals -  a standard of perfection; a principle to be aimed at.  (source: Oxford Dictionary)

Now, let’s place all your responses into this post.

When people proclaim about themselves, something that they are not, then they are no different than those delusional & egotistical villains. Both Daiji & Keiwa hate reality, because it affects their egos. They're no different than the likes of Kusaka, Mitsuzane & Kaito, in that regards, even if they claim the opposite.

When I'm seeing both Daiji & Keiwa claiming that they are saving people, when the situation proves them otherwise, then yes. They're delusional. When Keiwa claims that he will revive everyone who died in the DGP, while blaming Ace's mother at the same time, what does he have? Delusions. When Daiji says that joining Giff is the only way to go, when it was already proved that humanity can fight back against him (Ultimate Revice), then he is just as delusional.

Not only that, but let me remind you a quote from Takatora to Mitsuzane : "While the others faced their futures and moved on, you clinged at where you thought you found safety, and stayed there". The same goes for both Daiji & Keiwa. They didn't want to face their futures, straightforward, but instead, they got stuck to their own made-up world, built inside their heads.

and then my response to you for your first response. which got me your responses two and three:

Where did you even get them being delusional from their characters? In fact where did you get a lot of your claims in canon? Did either Keiwa or Daiji proclaim that they will be heroes to save everyone, they just declared that they're going to save people. By your logic, Emu is a villain, Sento is a villain, heck freaking Eiji Hino and Gentaro Kisaragi are villains. "hate reality because it affects their egos?' seriously where is this coming from?

Le’ts get to your responses now.

Keiwa’s ideal was for there to be no sacrifices for happiness, and naturally he wants for those sacrifices to be brought back, so his wish becomes reviving the DGP casualties. How is that a delusion?

So when someone fails to achieve their goals for one reason or another they’re delusional now? How is that a delusion, they simply failed at what they set out to do. In militaristic terms they failed the objective.

Academically speaking they got an F, it’s like you’re saying students who did not pass are delusional people and are villains.

Or are you talking about blaming Ace’s mother?  Let’s dissect that bit, shall we? I don’t have the time or energy to make an elaborate essay on dissecting that argument so here are the bullet points.

Keiwa learns how the wish system supposedly works from two shady sources: Daichi and Kekera.

Ace learns how the wish system actually works from confirming it himself, by which Keiwa is dead at this point.

Ace shares what he learned to Michinaga.

Ace does not share what he learned to Keiwa.

Keiwa is operating on the information he got from both Kekera and Daichi.

That information being the goddess uses the lives of the casualties, as fuel to rewrite the world. (the punkjack special debunks this, and Tsumuri confirms it in 39)

How is Keiwa to know that Mitsume is not to be blamed before the events of 39? The plot doesn’t even let Keiwa process what he learned from Win about how Mitsume probably isn’t at fault.

Keiwa is half right that Mitsume is not blameless in the whole wishing system but he’s wrong to put all the blame on her.

That is not delusional, that’s just called operating blind.

Now we go to 39, the post you replied was about Keiwa’s hesitation, how exactly does his hesitation paint him as a villain, the fact that he thinks there’s no point in joining the game when the goddess cannot atone for her sins?  How does that paint him as a villain exactly? How is that delusional of him.

If Keiwa was delusional, he’d have grabbed Ace’s collars and forced him to atone for his mother’s sins, but he doesn’t because he’s not delusional, as you claim him to be.

Let’s go over Daiji quickly, I did mention that Daiji was manipulated in the post that you replied to, its curious that you left that part out, when that was the whole point of him joining Akaishi’s side. He was manipulated because his factchecker, Kagerou, is absent from his life.

In short you’re confusing the word “ideals’ with “delusions”. Keiwa is an idealistic person, not a delusional person.

thoughts @rainixdra @acequinz @narashikari

[dailyunsolvedmysteries-movedd]

Jonestown Massacre

The Jonestown massacre was, before 9/11, the largest single incident of intentional civilian death in American history. More than 900 people died, many children. It was also a devastating cultural trauma: the end of the last strains of a certain kind of 1960s idealism and 1970s radicalism. Jonestown’s legacy lives on in the ironic phrase “drink the Kool-Aid”. (In actuality it was Fla-Vor-Aid.)

Although he would later become a symbol of the darker side of the west coast counterculture, Jim Jones was born to a poor family in Indiana. Described as an intelligent and strange child, Jones was instinctively attracted to religion, especially charismatic Christian traditions like Pentecostalism. He cut his teeth as a street preacher, and was, unusually for the time and place, a passionate advocate for racial equality. Jones’s idiosyncratic blend of evangelical Christianity, New Age spirituality and radical social justice attracted an enthusiastic following. He called his burgeoning church the Peoples Temple.

Although Jones’s followers would later be stereotyped as sinister, brainwashed idiots, the journalist Tim Reiterman argues in his seminal book on the subject that many were “decent, hardworking, socially conscious people, some highly educated”, who “wanted to help their fellow man and serve God, not embrace a self-proclaimed deity on earth”. The Peoples Temple advocated socialism and communitarian living and was racially integrated to an exceptional standard rarely matched since.

In 1965, when Jones was in his mid-30s, he ordered the Peoples Temple moved to California. He drifted away from traditional Christian teachings, describing himself in messianic terms and claiming he was the reincarnation of figures like Christ and Buddha. He also claimed that his goal all along was communism, and, in a twist on the famous dictum that religion is the “opiate of the masses”, that religion was merely his way of making Marxism more palatable.

By the 1970s, the Peoples Temple, now based in San Francisco, had gained significant political influence. Jones’s fierce advocacy for the downtrodden earned him the admiration of left-wing icons like Angela Davis and Harvey Milk and the support of groups like the Black Panthers – a tragically misguided political affinity, given that more than two-thirds of Jonestown’s eventual victims were African American.

There were signs, however, of a sinister undercurrent to the Peoples Temple. Followers were expected to devote themselves completely to the church’s utopian project: they turned over their personal wealth, worked long hours of unpaid labor for the church and often broke contact with their families. They were expected to raise their children within the commune. As a show of commitment, Peoples Temple members were asked to sign false testimonials that they had molested their children, which the church kept for potential blackmail.

In his 1980 study of Jonestown, the writer Shiva Naipaul, younger brother of VS Naipaul, argued that the Peoples Temple was at heart a fundamentalist religious project – “obsessed with sin and images of apocalyptic destruction, authoritarian in its innermost impulses, instinctively thinking in terms of the saved and the damned”.

The result, Naipaul wrote, “was neither racial justice nor socialism but a messianic parody of both”.

Jones, who had long believed the US was in danger of imminent nuclear holocaust, had been searching for a place where his church would be “safe” during an apocalyptic event. A magazine article alleging abuse in the Peoples Temple spurred Jones’s desire to relocate. He chose Guyana, a former British colony in South America whose socialist regime was politically sympathetic.

In 1977 the Peoples Temple moved its headquarters to a remote area of Guyanese wilderness. Here, Jones declared, they could build a utopian society without government or media meddling. Battling an oppressive tropical climate and limited resources, they began to convert the dense jungle into a working agricultural commune, soon known as “Jonestown”.

The church delivered Jones’s rambling monologues to Jonestown’s inhabitants by megaphone as they worked. In the evenings they attended mandatory propaganda classes. Jones’s writ was enforced by armed guards called the “Red Brigade”.

Jonestown had little reason to expect interference from Guyana – a “cooperative republic” whose government happily ignored signs of the cult’s authoritarian and paranoid bent. Back in the US, however, parents of Jonestown inhabitants – concerned by the strange letters, or lack of letters, they received from their children – had been lobbying the government to investigate. After a family in the US won a custody order for a child in Jonestown, paranoia escalated. The commune became an armed camp, ringed by volunteers with guns and machetes, threatening to fight outsiders to the death.

During the siege, Black Panthers Huey Newton and Angela Davis spoke to Jonestown inhabitants by radio patch to voice solidarity. Davis told Jonestown inhabitants that they were at the vanguard of revolution, and right to resist what she called “a profound conspiracy” against them.

Sometime during this period Jonestown began drills called “white nights”, in which inhabitants would practice committing mass suicide.

At the behest of concerned family members in the US, the California congressman Leo Ryan organized a delegation of journalists and others to make a fact-finding mission to Jonestown.

The delegation arrived at Jonestown on 17 November 1978 and received a civil audience from Jones, but the visit was hastily called short on 18 November after a member of the commune tried to stab Ryan. The delegation headed back to the airstrip, accompanied by a dozen Jonestown inhabitants who had asked to leave the commune, and escorted by Jones’s watchful deputies.

The delegates never made it off the ground. As they boarded the planes, their escorts drew guns and opened fire. They shot Ryan dead, combing his body with bullets to make certain, and killed four others – including two photographers who captured footage of the attack before dying. Wounded survivors ran or dragged themselves, bleeding, into the forest. (One of Ryan’s aides, Jackie Speier, survived five gunshots and is now a congresswoman representing California’s 14th district.)

Back at Jonestown, Jones announced that it was time to undertake the final “white night”. To quell disagreement, he told inhabitants that Congressman Ryan had already been murdered, sealing the commune’s fate and making “revolutionary suicide” the only possible outcome.

The people of Jonestown, some acceptant and serene, others probably coerced, queued to receive cups of cyanide punch and syringes. The children – more than 300 – were poisoned first, and can be heard crying and wailing on the commune’s own audio tapes, later recovered by the FBI.

When Guyanese troops reached Jonestown the next morning, they discovered an eerie, silent vista, frozen in time and littered with bodies. A tiny number of survivors, mainly people who had hidden during the poisoning, emerged. One elderly woman, who slept through the entire ordeal, awoke to discover everyone dead. Jones was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot.

[astra-galaxie]

“Not guilty, your honour! I was simply bringing justice to my family’s name after the disgrace the Flying Squad did to it!” - Justine Dawson

Biographical information

Full Name: Justine Dawson

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Status: Incarcerated

Age: 42 (season 3)

Birth: 1974

Race: Human

Nationality: American

Origin: Pacific Bay

Residence:

Concordia

Pacific Bay (formerly)

Profession(s): Lawyer

Family: Justine Lawson (indirect ancestor)

Affiliation(s):

Concordia Courthouse

Pacific Bay Courthouse (formerly)

Profile

Height: 5'5"

Age: 42 (season 2)

Weight: 153lbs

Eyes: blue

Blood: O-

Hailing from Concordia, Justine is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman who followed in her ancestor's footsteps and became a lawyer. In her debut, she wore a black pantsuit and purple-framed glasses.

During her suspect appearance in Death of Our Past, Justine had her hair pulled up into a bun, kept her purple glasses and wore an outfit similar to her late ancestor: a beige suit, a white dress shirt, a dark vest and a gray tie.

As per her suspect appearance in Death From The Past, it is known that Justine visits the opera, has read The Concordia Flying Squad: History of Justice, and drinks wine.

Synopsis

Justine is a minor character who appeared in Hanson vs. Savage and Death From The Past.

During Hanson vs. Savage, she served as the lawyer for Christoper and Yasemin Hanson in the custody battle for Ahmet Savage. Justine had a reputation for being vicious in the courtroom and hadn't lost a trial in over five years. Other lawyers feared going up against her, and clients wanted her to represent them. If they could afford her, that is.

Which meant that Justine was confident that she would win the trial against Adalet and Fili. So you can imagine the shock and anger she felt when Judge Dante decreed that her clients were in the wrong and took away their parental rights. Not only did she lose the trial, but her reputation plummeted to the point where no one would hire her.

Desperate to rebuild her reputation, Justine moved to Concordia, the first in her family to do so for generations. Now, in a place where people didn't know her, she opened a new law firm and began working again. Things were going well, and Justine was happy with her new life. Then, one day, she heard about a new museum that would be opening in the old Flying Squad airship to honour the team of investigators from the past.

Justine immediately saw this as a chance to redeem her family's name after it had been disgraced for so long. She submitted a request to have her ancestor featured in the museum for his work with the Flying Squad as a lawyer, judge, and city mayor. But to her dismay, her request was denied by Andrew Bontemps on the grounds that her ancestor did not deserve to be honoured, given the nightmare he had put Concordia through during his reign as mayor.

Getting that refusal letter enraged Justine. How DARE another Bontemps try and destroy her family name and her ancestor's legacy! Andrew's ancestor might have been a Flying Squad detective, but hers had been the mayor! Hers had ruled Concordia and was going to bring it into a new age of life and justice!

Justine would not stand for such disrespect. So, she stole Issac Bontemps's gun from the museum's storage and followed Andrew until it was the perfect time to strike. She cornered him on the airship and shot him in his heart, just as Issac had done to her ancestor over a hundred years ago. Finally, she had gotten revenge for the suffering her family had endured because of the Flying Squad.

But she would not get to celebrate her victory. Justine would be arrested and sentenced for her crime. For the first time in her life, she found herself on the opposite side of the bench and felt dread set in as the Judge declared she would spend the rest of her life in prison. But Justine kept her head held high and continued to proclaim her innocence, citing that she was merely claiming the debt the Bontemps family and the Flying Squad owed her for what happened to her ancestor.

At least people will continue to learn about the true history of Concordia and how the Flying Squad made it a better place. But if anyone wants to hear about the "true" hero of the city, they can visit the local prison and listen to Justine's ranting…

Story Information

First appeared: Smart Money

Trivia

Initially, she was just supposed to be a parody of Justin Lawson. But, it was suggested that I make her an indirect descendant (you know who you are!), so I found a way to make it happen!

Her surname, Dawson, exists because one of her ancestors changed it from Lawson to Dawson to try and escape the association with the Concordian dictator they were related to

She was the first person in her family to move back to Concordia after her great-grandparents moved away to escape the hate following their family

Frankly, I designed her with the purpose of her being a snotty bitch. I like to think I succeeded!

Disclaimer: Character design was created using Rinmarugames Mega Anime Avatar Creator! I have only made minor edits to the design! Background courtesy of CriminalArtist5

Links to my stories:

The Case of the Criminal (Ao3/Wattpad) Killer Bay (Ao3/Wattpad) Where in the World are the Killers? (Ao3/Wattpad)